Donald J. Trump, the New York billionaire, has the political world on a string. If he wins Ohio and Florida on March 15 (as I write, polls have him leading in both states), Trump will emerge as the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Typing that sentence six months ago was fantastical. Six years ago and […]
Archives
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Trump. How Did We Get Here?
09 Mar 2016
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Biblical Integration – A Framework for Political Economy: The Image of God in Man* – Part 2
26 Feb 2016
* I am relying heavily on Created in God’s Image by Anthony A. Hoekema. I have read several papers and examined several books on the subject and find Hoekema’s work to be the most helpful. Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Hebrews 1:3a He is the radiance of the glory […]
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Trump: The Cultural Costs of the New Normal
23 Feb 2016
Donald Trump (R-NY) is working his way toward the Republican presidential nomination. His opponents may still derail him, of course, but his sustained performance–he has been the front-runner since August–suggests there is a sizable portion of the Republican electorate that sees Trump as not only tolerable, but preferable. Exit polls reveal several possible explanations. Voters […]
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Biblical Integration – A Framework for Political Economy: The Image of God in Man – Part 1
22 Feb 2016
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Hebrews 1:3a He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. In a post on Monday February 15 I discussed the role of the Bible when analyzing […]
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I have been reading with great interest not only my colleague Jeff Haymond’s posts over the past couple of weeks on progressive income taxation (1/29), income inequality (2/3), and a potential proportional income tax (2/9), but also the spirited discussion over the content of the posts. I have been thinking about biblical integration in economics […]
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Many will write better and more personal things about Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court Justice who died today. I did not have him as a professor. I did not clerk for him. I encountered Scalia as a graduate student getting a first taste of constitutional law. Dr. John Maltese, my professor at the University of […]
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A Biblical case for Proportional (flat) taxation
09 Feb 2016
In my previous post, I suggested progressive taxation was not Biblical, and challenged readers to convince me I was wrong. In the voluminous follow up comments, I didn’t see any Biblical arguments for progressive taxation. However several posters suggested that there was not Biblical support for any method of taxation (regressive, proportional or progressive). In […]
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Iowa Results: Why They Matter and Why They Don’t
02 Feb 2016
Iowa, a slice of the heartland, has spoken, but not in a single, predictable voice. Iowa’s exalted place as America’s first presidential nomination contest is more an accident of history than a badge of merit. But, every four years we gather, at the bottom of the mountain and await our tablets, carved upon by our […]
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Expect a Raucous Caucus in Iowa
01 Feb 2016
The Des Moines Register released its final poll on Saturday. For Republicans, Donald Trump still leads (28%) the horserace, with Ted Cruz close behind (23%). Marco Rubio has moved up to third (15%). The pollster, J. Ann Selzer has some caveats. She argues that while Trump leads, Cruz seems more consistently aligned with the electorate. […]
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A Tale of Two Kinds of Institutions
26 Jan 2016
I must first apologize for the length of this post. It is a bit involved, but because the subject is not so simple as we sometimes would like to believe. As I consider the current state of government and of colleges and universities, and their dysfunction, I can’t help but do so in terms of […]